Healing Through Yantra - English book on Yantras

Yantra tantra flourished in eastern India until the beginning of the 13th century when the Muslim invaders destroyed the great Indian universities and the centers of Yantra-tantra. Many thousands of rare manuscripts, paintings and icons were destroyed and their professors and practitioners slaughtered. However, some managed to escape to Nepal, Tibet, Assam, Burma, South India, Ceylon and Java and took with them the knowledge of all this and also some manuscripts. This was the end of the golden age of Yantra-tantra in India. The original manuscripts therefore come to be preserved in Tibet, Nepal and remote areas of the Himalayas. The Chinese invaders of Tibet again caused widespread destruction of the Yantra-Tantra manuscript and icons in monasteries. The influence of Hinduism upon Yantra-tantra was most marked from the time of the Muslim invasion. The great sage Shankracharya had already strengthened and given life to the Brahmanic (Hindu) philosophy of the eighth century and his expounding of the Vajrayana philosophy in clear Hindu terms had brought about a great religious revival. The available Hindu Tantra texts written before the Muslim invasions indicate that Hinduism had assimilated these teachings after Buddhism started waning in India. In the later medieval period, tantric practices got mixed with the pre-Aryan kapalika, aghori, nathist, shaivite and shakta rites. Further with the influences of primitive tribal and animistic practices, the tantra practices became associated with the idea of sacrifice, often of an objectionable kind. Bengal, Assam, Orissa and Bihar still remained the centers of practice though shortage of expert teachers (due to Muslim persecution) and the resultant misinterpretation of the tantric texts due to poor understanding of the real meaning of the secret Sandhyabhasa language (twilight-language) because of the allegorical style changed the mode of worship bringing bad name to Yantra-Tantra. From the 13th century to present day Yantra-Tantra has maintained a strong influence on religious practices throughout east India despite attempts at its suppression by the Muslims and the orthodox Hindus. Many Hindu temples still house images that trace their origin to tantric visualization. In Tibet Yantra-Tantra developed on purely Buddhist lines (though the Bon persists adopted the Tantras, they are indistinguishable from the Buddhists) until the recent Chinese occupation. Bengal has remained a stronghold of the tradition on Yantra-Tantra though it is strongly influenced by shavite, shakta, vaishnav and baul cults. In fact, the bauls still continue the oral tradition of the earliest Yantra -Tantras. Bengal has produced a formidable line of tantric gurus from the earliest of the siddhas, shabaripa, darikapada, to the medieval Raghunatha Siromani, Sri Chaitanya, Krsnananda Agamavagisa, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Bamakepha and Sri Aurobindo to mention only the better known. Tantrism is still practiced in Assam, Orissa, parts of South India, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, as well as other parts of the Indian Himalayas. The past decade has shown a tremendous revival in Yantra-Tantra among western countries, probably on account of the psychological and extra-sensory implications. In India too there are people who see in Yantra-Tantra, a hope for the future. The term Yantra-Tantra implies a system. No form of magical practice should be termed tantric if it is not systematic. The Aryans brought many practices of a tantric nature with them and these were incorporated in their religious practices both before and after their coming in India. Practices such as Mantrayna the repetition of sound vibrations in definite sequence and the ordered blending of elements, are similar to the ritual yoga techniques of the siddhas. The Yantra-Tantra teachings were always closely guarded secrets given by the master to the disciple when the time of preparation was complete. The teachings, mostly in oral tradition, consist of yogic instructions for the inner purification and transformation of the body and spirit of the practitioner. They always stress the need for the person to be able to contain the high condition of being. A mature philosophy is a fundamental factor prior to Yantra-Tantra initiation. Contents 1 Index of Yantras viii 2 About the Author xiii 3 Preface xiv 4 Acknowledgement xvi 5 Introduction 1 6 What is Yantra 4 7 Guru and Yantra 6 8 Direction for Yantras 8 9 Method of Yantra Puja 10 10 Practical Uses of Yantra 11 11 Pen and Ink for Writing Yantra 12 12 Yantras 16-166 13 Vocabulary 167 14 Mantras in Sanskrit 174 Details :- Language: English with mantras in English too Size : 21 cm x 13 cm Pages : 175 Binding : Paperback Weight of book: 320 gms(approx.) Author: P.Khurrana Publisher : Crossland Books , New delhi-02 ISBN : 81-8408-182-0 MRP : INR 175.00/-